This invention relates to an improved transit station lift apparatus by which wheelchair occupants and other disabled persons are given the means to enter and leave transit vehicles safely as regular passengers with minimum inconvenience and without undue time loss to the transit system. The invention is herein illustratively described by reference to its presently preferred embodiment; however, it will be appreciated that certain modifications and changes therein may be made with respect to details without departing from the essential features involved.
With the growing awareness and sensitivity of the public and public transit authorities to the needs of wheelchair occupants and other disabled persons to share in the use of existing public transit systems and to the public benefit of having them do so, major efforts have been mounted in the search for practical and safe systems by which common carrier vehicles such as buses and trains may be utilized over their regular routes and at regular stopping points or stations to carry these individuals while accommodating regular passengers. For obvious reasons, the alternative of providing a separate fleet of special vehicles in a taxi-like service to disabled persons has been unsatisfactory because of the high costs; whereas, attempts to provide regularly scheduled service with such vehicles have also met with cost limitations, especially when attempting to provide reasonably frequent scheduled runs and adequate area coverage.
A further object of this invention is to devise a relatively low-cost apparatus installed at the transit station or stop so as to serve all transit vehicles picking up and discharging passengers there including disabled passengers in wheelchairs. A related object hereof is to provide apparatus of this nature occupying a minimum of ground space at the transit station or stop and readily operable by the vehicle operator or conductor with the vehicle stopped to receive or discharge such passengers.
A further and more specific object hereof is to devise such lift apparatus of relatively simple construction, essentially vandal-proof and provided with a control system restrictively accessible only by authorized persons such as a bus driver or conductor. A related purpose is to provide such apparatus with a control means conveniently operable from the vantage point of a transit vehicle entryway by a trained person such as a train conductor, thereby assuring that the most frail and most uncoordinated handicapped person in a wheelchair may safely and quickly board and leave the transit vehicle.
Still another object hereof is to devise a lift apparatus easily accessed from either end and serving also as a safety enclosure available to the wheelchair occupant while waiting for arrival of the next train or bus vehicle and while being transferred between transit station platform and vehicle passenger deck. A related objective is to provide in such a lift apparatus an elevator system in which a normally retracted bridge, extendable to the vehicle passenger deck from the lift car platform, may be made of minimum projecting length deployed as a bridge so as to minimize the structural requirements of the bridge and the length of open span the wheelchair passenger must traverse in moving between lift car and transit vehicle deck.